Category Archives: traffic

The Future of Our Alleys?

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One reoccurring question on this community news site concerns the future of our alleys. Oregon Hill, one of Richmond’s oldest neighborhoods, sadly had many of its alley stripped of their historic cobblestones by the City and developers years ago (Where did they go?). Over time, their surfaces have been made either loose gravel or smooth pavement. The results have been less than desirable.

In the alleys that have been paved, residents have experienced more cars speeding and more rain runoff. In the alleys still with gravel, giant potholes, huge ruts, and spillover into streets (as in the picture below on the 500 block of S. Cherry) develop.

Things have recently come a head in the 100 blocks above the expressway (wryly known as the Oregon Heights) and have been discussed a bit on the City’s SeeClickFix system.

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Traffic Alert- Lane Closures On Lee Bridge

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From City press release:

For Immediate Release
October 24, 2011
For more information, contact:
Sharon North – (804) 646-5607

Lane Closures – Robert E. Lee Bridge

WHO: City of Richmond Department of Public Works

WHAT: Lane Closures

WHEN: Wednesday, October 26 through Friday, December 2, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

WHERE: Robert E. Lee Bridge

BACKGROUND: There will be intermittent lane closures on the bridge during repairs of the joints and railings. The work will begin in the southbound lanes, then switch to the northbound lanes.

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More on 2nd Street Connector Proposal

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Blogger extraordinaire C. Wayne Taylor has post up now on City Hall Review that evidently quotes a city official.

“I don’t have any documentation on emergency access conditions in the area of the proposed Second Street Connector. I checked with Lory Markham and she doesn’t either.”
James Hill, Principal Planner
Division of Planning & Preservation
Department of Planning and Development Review

This raises more questions about the motivation, need, and the rush to create this new street, which would intersect or go over the canal.

2nd Street Connector Draws More Citizen Scrutiny- What Does It Mean For ‘Riverfront Planning’?

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While OHNA urges support of the City’s interest in protecting the historic resources in the canal basin, citizens continue to question plans for the proposed 2nd Street connector street.

C. Wayne Taylor provides a great graphic with details on his City Hall Review site.

One Oregon Hill resident sent this to me on September 30:

I have many comments and questions about traffic.

Bike Lanes
I’d be more likely to bike on this new road vs drive. If it must be built then bike lanes are a must.

Roundabout
We’ve been waiting for a long time for the Idlewood roundabout. I’d like to see that finished before we build a 2nd Street connector. After the last OHNA meeting I noticed there was a traffic accident at the 3 road merge exactly where the roundabout would be located (Grayland + Idlewood + RMA ramp). We need sidewalk improvements here and we should add bike lanes as well. The Byrdhouse Market would benefit from these improvements as well.

Pedestrian Bridge
We’ve been waiting for a long time for the Pedestrian Bridge. I’d like to see that finished before we build a new 2nd Street Connector.

Area Traffic
Will we see more traffic coming from the Idlewood RMA ramp? Will people shortcut through the neighborhood down Idlewood and or S Laurel? I commute down Spring St out of Oregon Hill and turn left onto 2nd Street to get downtown for work. Will the morning southbound traffic on 2nd hinder that left turn during rush hour? Will there be any traffic lights added? Will there be a traffic study?

I should say that Oregon Hill residents do understand that many people would like more public routes to the riverfront and understand the pubic desire in the proposed 2nd Street connection road, however there are real concerns about HOW this project is done. At the moment it seems to be proposed in a manner that benefits the corporate interests of New Market and Dominion more so than any public interests. That New Market seems determined to rush it does not give folks any confidence that their concerns will be considered.

Perhaps we will hear more about this at the next Riverfront Planning meeting on October 18th. Hopefully citizen involvement will be meaningful.

Kollatz Reports On OHNA/City/Dominion Meeting

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Harry Kollatz is doing his best to add more in depth coverage of planning meetings regarding the Richmond riverfront on his blog for Richmond Magazine. In the latest post (click here), he reports on a meeting yesterday that included representatives from the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA), Dominion Power, and City of Richmond.

At this week’s meeting, the concerns as expressed by OHNA through Pool and its president, Jennifer Hancock, included the possibility of the new and longer Second Street wiping away remnants of the canal; resulting traffic and noise; the special-use permit that Dominion still carries on its property, which allows open-ended construction (Pool was greatly concerned that construction of a once-planned 160-foot tower might go forward as a result); and the matter of what’s been referred to as an “amphitheater” for Venture Richmond to complement the Folk Festival site, on property that may be gifted to the organization by NewMarket.

Discussion ensued over the ramifications of a possible new street coming off 2nd that would connect to the riverfront. Oregon Hill neighbors are concerned that this would encourage more cars speeding down Idlewood off the expressway in order to get to 2nd Street.

From Kollatz’s post:

Hancock later reminded city engineers that they’d pushed for a roundabout at Idlewood, where the Downtown Expressway connects, and it’s mentioned in the Downtown Master Plan’s Transportation Analysis (p. 18). Transportation engineer Thomas Flynn said the excellent idea for a roundabout isn’t forgotten, it just needs $400,000 to be completed.

(Please see Issue #5).

OHNA Invitation For Meeting Next Tuesday

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From email:

The following invitation was sent to Dominion and the City planning office. This email is being sent to you because we feel that you may also be interested in this subject. OHNA also extends an open invitation to all interested parties.

To whom it may concern:

The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA) would like to invite you to our next meeting on Tues. Sept. 27th at 7:00 p.m. at the William Byrd Community House, located on the 200 block of South Cherry Street. As the neighborhood in closest proximity, and with close historical ties to Tredegar, we have questions and concerns regarding the recently announced projects in Monday’s Richmond Times Dispatch article of a road connecting Second Street with Tredegar Street and a new amphitheater.

Among our concerns are:
Is Dominion planning additional construction on its property, or planning to construct the tower that was included in the decades old special use permit?
How will the proposed connector affect the historic canal and surroundings?
Has there been a traffic study regarding the effect of the connector on the surrounding neighborhood?
What is the proposed configuration of the proposed amphitheater, and how will the sound from this amphitheater impact Oregon Hill?
How will parking on Oregon Hill be impacted by the proposed changes?

Please let us know if you will be able to attend our neighborhood meeting.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Hancock,
President, OHNA

Market Parking Woes

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Yesterday before the market opened, Ana Edwards, Byrd House Market Manager, sent this email:

Greetings Shoppers and Friends –

It seems our Tuesday No Parking Signs may have blown away. Couple that with VCU classes beginning this week and Idlewood Avenue is loaded with parked cars. This may improve some as the day goes on, but it does mean that street parking will be limited. So, because we have no childrens’ programs running this week, we can open the playground and soccer field areas for market parking.
Thank you for your patience.

A neighbor had this to say:

Parking has been a huge problem today for the neighborhood. The shoppers are taking all of the spaces on cherry street and residents have nowhere to park….
It would be sad if Byrd Market was the catalyst that causes the neighborhood to succumb to permit parking. Please review your options for accommodating the overload of cars currently brought in by the market.

Hopefully this can be resolved for next week’s market day. Its pretty clear that this part of the neighborhood sees a lot of activity on market days and the issue does deserve attention.

Ask Questions Of New City Bicycle and Pedestrian Official

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RVANews.com is going to be meeting with Richmond’s new bicycle/pedestrian
coordinator and they thought it might be a good time to try out using
Google Moderator to solicit questions from residents from all over Richmond.

Click here to read, rate, or submit a question.

Here’s one I submitted (in reference to my neighborhood issue #4):

What is going on with my neighborhood’s new canal bridge? Its more than a bit frustrating, given that it was the neighborhood association that applied for the state transportation grants.